Plot
Corporal King is an anomaly in the Japanese prison camp; not only is he one of only a handful of Americans amongst the mainly British and Australian inmates, he is actually thriving through his conniving and black market enterprises while others (nearly all of higher rank) struggle to survive the sickness and starvation, while retaining as much of their civilised nature as they can.
In the course of his activities, King recruits upper class British RAF officer, Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe (James Fox) to act as a translator. As they become better acquainted, Marlowe comes to like the man and appreciate his cunning. For his part, King respects Marlowe, but his attitude is otherwise ambiguous. When Marlowe accidentally injures his arm, King obtains expensive medicines to save the gangrenous limb from amputation, but it is unclear whether he does so out of genuine friendship or because Marlowe is the only one who knows where the proceeds from King's latest and most profitable venture are hidden.
King has an entirely different relationship with the lower class, seemingly-incorruptible British Provost, Lieutenant Grey (Tom Courtenay). Grey has only contempt for the American and does his best to bring him down, with little success.
Meanwhile, Grey has another dilemma to deal with. When he accidentally discovers that the high-ranking officer in charge of the meager food rations has been siphoning off part of it, he rejects a bribe and zealously takes the matter to Colonel George Smedley-Taylor (John Mills). To his dismay however, Smedley-Taylor tells him that the corrupt officer and his assistant have been relieved of their duties, but orders him to forget all about it. Grey accuses him of being in on the scheme, but the tampered weight he presented to the colonel has been replaced, and he no longer has any proof of the misdeeds. Smedley-Taylor offers to promote him to captain; when a troubled Grey does not respond, Smedley-Taylor takes his silence as agreement.
Finally, one day, the camp commandant summons the senior British officers and notifies them that the Japanese have surrendered and that the war is over. Later, a single British paratrooper (Richard Dawson) walks up to the prison gates and disarms the guards.
After overcoming their shock and disbelief, the prisoners celebrate - all except King. He realises he is no longer the unquestioned (if unofficial) ruler of the camp. He manages to squelch a premature attempt by resentful underling Sergeant Max (Patrick O'Neal) to reassert his rank and authority, but that only delays the inevitable. When Marlowe speaks to him before his departure back into the ranks of the U.S. Army, King ignores his overture of renewed friendship.
King's unit sleeve patch is that of the U.S. Army 34th Infantry Division, which actually served in Europe during the war. The 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery unit of the 36th Infantry Division (United States) (which the producers confused with the 34th Division) was captured on Java on March 8, 1942. It was the only U.S. Army unit captured by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies in World War II.
Read more about this topic: King Rat (film)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“There saw I how the secret felon wrought,
And treason labouring in the traitor’s thought,
And midwife Time the ripened plot to murder brought.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)